re-engineering a dorm fridge

[mike_g08]

Hello.

I am thinking (longer term) of a project where the guts of a dorm fridge (compressor, evaporator, condenser) would be reused in a more suitably arranged (and better insulated) cabinet.

I think it would need to be a dorm fridge with external condenser, rather than somehow incorporated under the metal skin.

I would make it about 30 inches tall, and enough footprint to fit 4 kegs, chest freezer style door on top.

I would insulate with 2-3 inches of foam, thus being much better insulated than factory.

I suspect others on this board have done something similar. Any thoughts?

 

[yeastylad]

Might be easier and quicker (not necessarily cheaper) to put a chest freezer on a thermostat set to serving temp? This is the most common approach if you want to have multiple kegs refrigerated for serving. There are plenty of build threads on here for that. I did a really basic one (no collar build yet for taps, just picnic taps) with a 7 cu ft GE chest freezer from Home depot ($198, but you can get sweet deals on used ones on Craigslist if you shop around) and an STC-1000 thermostat ($16 on amazon, plus some extra bits to make it workable, around $30) - build here
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=433985
If you already have dorm fridge parts and really want to build from scratch, go for it, but this is a pretty simple solution to what I think you are looking for.

 

[mike_g08]

Thanks for the thought.

I do have an STC-1000 on hand (not put together yet) and a GE dorm fridge, but I am pretty sure this fridge has no external condenser, so it is probably not a candidate for re-engineering like I described.

 

[azazel1024]

Might be easier and quicker (not necessarily cheaper) to put a chest freezer on a thermostat set to serving temp? This is the most common approach if you want to have multiple kegs refrigerated for serving. There are plenty of build threads on here for that. I did a really basic one (no collar build yet for taps, just picnic taps) with a 7 cu ft GE chest freezer from Home depot ($198, but you can get sweet deals on used ones on Craigslist if you shop around) and an STC-1000 thermostat ($16 on amazon, plus some extra bits to make it workable, around $30) - build here
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=433985
If you already have dorm fridge parts and really want to build from scratch, go for it, but this is a pretty simple solution to what I think you are looking for.

Agreed, Chest freezers have much thicker insulation than minifridges as they are designed to run at -5 to 5F instead of up around 40F like a minifridge. Their compressors aren't terribly efficient usually, as they use a similar style, but in terms of heat loss, they are a lot better. I was looking at the energy guide info for the 7.1cu-ft Igloo chest freezer I bought a couple of days ago and it is only slightly worse then the 4.5cu-ft minifridge I have ("$20 per year" instead of "$13 per year")...and it is 50% greater volume, as well as supposed to be running 40F colder.

I'd certainly be interested to get the guts out of a minifridge with external radiator and use it to make a well insulated cabinet kegerator, but you can also upgrade the insulation of a chest freezer above and beyond the existing insulation.

But then again, at $20 a year for one of the better 7.1cu-ft chest freezers...I'd bet when done, running at 40-50F, that it might run you $1 a month to run it to keep 4 cornies at serving temp (maybe more? Not sure exactly how many cornies will fit in a 7.1cu-ft chest freezer, but I assume at least 4 + gas).